Dancing On Ice 2010 – 14 March show, liveblogged

Ah, as we near the end of this series of Dancing On Ice, we’ve reached “Prop Week”, where the required element is for the skaters to include a prop in their routine – a mic stand, hats, and stuff like that. Torvill and Dean give us an example with a couple of cowboy hats, and worryingly, it’s quite a rough routine – it doesn’t have their usual flow or polish. Uh-oh!

Hollywatch: What’s Holly wearing this week? Well, it’s a pastel pink dress, which would be rather elegant, except for the inclusion of what looks like silver tinsel framing Holly’s boob-area.Pretty, but we take marks off for the tinsel disaster.

Scoreboard

Daniella Westbrook and Matthew Gonzalez – 27.5

Hayley Tamaddon and Daniel Whiston – 26.5

Danny Young and Frankie Poultney – 25.5

Kieron Richardson and Brianne Delcourt – 23.0

Gary Lucy and Maria Filippov – 22.0

Gary Lucy

First skater of the night is Gary Lucy and his partner Maria Filippov. I think it’s the first time they’ve opened the show – am I right? They’re working with the cane tonight and the song’s Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. I reckon this gives Jason Gardiner enough ammunition for some nasty comments! Gary’s got a case of Jedward hair, and Maria’s been crimped half to death. The routine is naturally quite stilted because of the props, but the duo actually pull off some intricate moves. Gary even pulls off last week’s required spin which he forgot to do last Sunday!

Score: 22.0 Robin: You were right on the money at the beginning. Overall, it was not a bad attempt and you controlled them very well. Jason: You upped your game this week and I applaud you for that. There were some synch issues, but I applaud you for putting in the required element from last week. Well done. Nicky: It didn’t have the committment and conviction it needed to lift my mark. This is Ian Drury and the Blockheads meets Fred Astaire. If you could let go for a minute and really hit the ground with those sticks – you’re a nice guy!

Daniella Westbrook

Daniella’s my prediction to get booted tonight, unless she does something extraordinary to stay out of the skate off. Tonight, she’s dressed like some kind of slutty secretary and she’s been given an office chair as a prop – the song is You Got The Look by Roxette. And despite their protestations during the video segment, she and Matthew make a decent go of using the prop. The spin is awesome, even if it ends slightly roughly. A good routine – they made good use of the chair, and it was a really difficult prop.

Score: 27.5 Emma: This is actually only the second time I’ve had goosebumps throughout this series. Your lines are getting better every week, and it always feels effortless. Robin: Fantastic. Even sitting down, your feet were crossed pointed as much as you can. You took care of every detail of your body, no matter where it was. Karen: I’ve watched that routine develop all week. Your acting skills go hand in hand with your skating.

Kieron Richardson

Up next is Kieron, who’s improved in the last few weeks. His prop is a weighted microphone stand – you push it and it swings back up to you. His fans are wearing Freddie Mercury moustaches in honor of the song – Freddie’s The Great Pretender. What strikes me is that he’s skating really fast. The routine is a lot of fun, and Kieron deserves props (geddit?) for mimicking some of Mercury’s moves with the microphone.

Score: 23.0 Nicky: I loved the committment to the character at times. It hit you in the face at the end. Nice to integrate it in the lift, but remember to set the girl down gently as you can, please. Good ice coverage, and a strong performance. Jason: Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest performers of all time, so you really had your work cut out for you to match that. That said, it was full on for you. You really turned it up a notch tonight. I would have liked to see more done with the mic stand, but that’s not your fault – it was a good, solid performance.

Hayley Tamaddon

After shocking the nation with her performance to Jai Ho last week, Hayley’s under huge pressure to impress us. Her prop this week is an umbrella, but she’s not dancing to Rihanna, it’s Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. They’re at pains to suggest that even after their massive success last week, this prop week may not pan out so well for them. The routne itself is gorgeous, understated and romantic and shockingly, it’s probably better than Torvill and Dean’s opening dance.

Score: 26.5 Karen: Difficult to follow your amazing routine last week, but this one was total contrast, it was gentle and romantic. Emma: If it’s not hard enough dancing and learning a brand new skill, let me give you a prop as well. I just think it was seamless, beautiful, you had so much control over the prop. There was just something missing, it wasn’t spectacular. Robin: It’s a completely different standard, a completely different feeling. I gave you the extra points because the quality of the skating was fantastic. It was a little bit nice for me – I’d have like a little bit more tension. But it was lovely.

Danny Young

Former Corrie actor Danny is the final skater of the evening. Danny and Frankie have been given the hat as their prop for the night. Unfortunately, Danny’s been given McFly’s It’s All About You. Let me say that I hate McFly. This will not make me look well on any routine based on a McFly song. Frankie’s quite playful in this routine, and they loon about with the (hideous, orange) bowler hat as much as the routine will allow them. Passable routine, with a cute lift at the end.

Score: 25.5 Emma: I just think your dancing is getting stronger and stronger each week. Each week you bring a different character – last week was tough, this week was cute. Well done. Nicky: I’ve just endorsed the character – you did capture the character from the off, and maintained it. And you took a couple of risks with the prop where it could go wrong, which is exciting. The skating is much better, the lifts are flowing, you’re putting her down gently.

Elimination

Just a quick update – despite being bottom of the leaderboard, Gary Lucy didn’t end up in the bottom two for the skate-off. That was between Kieron Richardson and Danny Young. And even though both skaters appeared equally matched, a gaffe with the bowler hat in Danny Young’s routine (ironically caused by the pro skater Frankie Poultney) cost Danny his place in the competition. Only Karen Barber (thanks to rude commenter below) chose to save Danny – the four other judges noted the mistake in the routine and chose to save Kieron Richardson instead.

Gerard McGarry is a jet-setting, world-renowned Reality TV critic.
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